Wall-to-wall wonder

The view near the top was panoramic, the walk exhilarating, the sense of calm euphoric.

Then out of the blue, the unmistakable sound of a Scottish lilt from a few meters away. If an accent sound more commonly found 8,000 km away wasn't incongruous enough, the sight surely was - the lanky frame of Gordon Rodger bedecked in sporran, kilt and little else to shield his lower limbs from the cold, as he insisted on proving to me. 'There was no way I was going to let the Great Wall get the better of me," he beamed. "This is just like Aberdeen in the summertime!"

Gordon and girlfriend Julia Rowley were on the final day of an 11-day visit from their home in Bahrain. Serious though their day jobs might have been - building project manager and real estate marketing manager respectively - this couple clearly made up for in spirit what Gordon might have lacked in the wardrobe department. Then, quick as a flash, so to speak, they were off and up the hill. Julia later confirmed by email they had made it to the very top, where she described the views as "amazing".